springing it hot in laguna

i just got home from a very tedious yet curious mini-adventure of sorts. nothing really fancy or death-defying. my good friends and i just resort-hopped all over laguna, all throughout winging it without wheels.

it was rather unexpected. the trip was previously baked under a makeshift plan but all of it got singed by the summer heat when our friend who was supposed to roll us off to laguna flaked out on us. in the very last minute, we were suprised with the turn of events. whoever said all surprises always made everyone grin wide? no one should.

after a short deliberation of how things would be taken from that point on, we threw our elitist whims out into the murky pasig river and went on car-less. we ferried ourselves to crossing thru a rusty but otherwise zephyr-fast jeepney. we hitched on an aircon bus going to a town in laguna (actual name escapes me now). after more than one hour of poking fun at the incredulous commercial billboards we passed by and debating whether or not angel locsin fits the darna mold. we got off into an unknown location. we then prayed that the hard-to-miss vacation spot ads adorning that town meant that we were on the right hunting ground.

obviously looking like a small pack of travellers sans the joyride machine, we trudged along the road showered by the midday sun. like resort whores, we flopped from one resort to another, shaking our bon-bons and wondering how much we had to pay up for pleasure. most summer places were already booked full while some were just plain undesirable for our finnicky taste. in a world-changing lightbulb moment, i suggested that we check out the water park we lodged into months ago (makiling highlands: i blogged about the place---see archive). we recalled what our kindergarten teache instilled in us so we hollered for a typical friendly neighborhood traffic aide and asked directions to a road pastry-inspiredly named "captain mamon". sir blue uniform hailed a jeep for us in the event that we all drop dead walking in the scorching heat. one very helpful gesture, that one.

we rode the vehicle together with a caucasian couple (or so it seems to me) who may have been roped into this nation of mobile sex scandals (i'm quite the patriot, ain't i?) because of the dick (gordon) campaign. the woman took notice of our lady companion (no, she isn't an escort girl... so she says to us) and threw an off-hand comment as we alighted: "(how) sexy!" we didn't care if that was a bait for a threesome or a lesbo insinuation or she was was simply paying a good word forward, our friend didn't hear the end of it from us. will she get offers for www.hotpinays.com? you heard it here first.

anyway, as anyone who knows me for some time could attest to, i suck at directions but our little congregation made the fatal mistake of asking me where my memory points to. we were all parched and as arid as the sahara and martha stewart---i guess trust comes easily put in this state. our bodies were limp and languid yet we dragged ourselves along a dusty long path that was supposed to lead us to the haven we yearned for. reaching the end of the strait-narrow road, i realized that we got it wrong. lo and behold, there was another surprise for the day.

the nook we arrived to was familiar to one of my companions. after seconds-long phoebe halliwell retrocognition, he remembered that he already had this place in one of the outings of his organization in the university. slowly, i looked up to see a good view of the place. what stood before me was a small manor (or mansion or "big house"---whatever the more fitting term is) surrounded by a village of trees and an ocean of summer breeze. we instantly fell in love with the place. we knew that was "it". we negotiated with the caretaker and did all non-poetic dealings that need not be enumerated here.

it was just so invigorating lounging for a few minutes there after having spent the day like gypsies. the warmth of the sunset as it seemingly permeated my skin like a healing light. i coud have billeted there for the night.

we yanked ourselves out of coziness and went our way back to manila: pigging out at wendy's laguna, being awe-stricken with the size of biggie iced tea these days, milling around for our public transport home, getting on a road rage bus to hell---all noted down for the day.

we should do that again some other time... or maybe not.